An Afghan bird refuge comes back to life after decades of neglect

By PAMELA CONSTABLE | The Washington Post | Published: June 25, 2017

KABUL, Afghanistan — Just south of the Afghan capital, on a busy road lined with car repair shops, goat corrals and garbage pits, a narrow lane opens unexpectedly onto a small natural wonder — a picturesque, nearly hidden marsh that is known only to a few Afghans and inhabited only by migratory birds and several families of wild dogs.

The 470-acre site, known as Kol-e-Hashmat Khan, is one of the rare recognized wetland areas in central Afghanistan. Once it drew wealthy sightseers and royal hunting parties, but during four decades of war and turmoil it lay abandoned and neglected. The water filled with sludge, unauthorized settlements sprang up around the edges, and fewer birds stopped to rest or breed in the desiccated marsh.

Now, an ambitious effort to clean up and restore the site, launched several years ago by the Afghan government and local civic groups with support from the U.N. Environmental Program, is starting to bear fruit. Water from the nearby Logar River has been diverted with sandbags, and new reed growth has attracted an increasing number and variety of birds.



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Afghan Police Shoot Rare Bird They Thought Had A Bomb

Fearing that the Taliban had begun weaponizing wildlife, Afghan police in Faryab Province shot a bird wearing a "small antenna and suspicious device," NBC News reported. Upon being hit, the bird "exploded," according to police chief Abdul Nabi Ilham. In an unfortunate twist for all involved, the bird appears to be a vulnerable species called a houbara bustard, rarely seen in Afghanistan. Officials collected what they think are traces of a GPS tracker, not an actual bomb, from the bird.

Though it would mark the first time a Taliban conscript had feathers, there’s a long, strange history of enlisting animals in war. Not only have combatants ridden horses or relied on dogs to sniff out bombs, but in World War II, the U.S. military also trained pigeons to pilot simulated missiles, and they strapped actual bombs to bats (neither project was implemented). War dolphins are a more recent — and controversial — phenomenon, with Russia seizing trained Ukrainian cetaceans in March.

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Kandahar DLA Disposition Services employees protect bird’s nest

Defense Logistics Agency

Story by Jeffrey Landenberger

When birds were found nesting

in a large box of wire at the DLA 

Disposition Services yard in Kandahar, 

Afghanistan, employees took steps to

 protect the nest until the birds are

 old enough to fly away. (Courtesy photo)

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Defense Logistics Agency Disposition Services employees protect the environment by ensuring property turned in by customers is reused or recycled, but DLA Disposition Services employees in Kandahar, Afghanistan, have temporarily taken environmental protection a step further.

When a bird’s nest with two eggs was discovered inside a large box of wire, employees took steps to protect it. The box was marked to prevent any accidental disturbances of the nest and to provide a safe haven for the baby birds, DLA Disposition Services environmental protection specialist Nikisone Leoso wrote in an email.

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Bird hunters 'emptying Afghan skies'

Untold numbers of migratory birds are being caught and killed every year in Afghanistan, helping drive species like the Siberian Crane to the verge of extinction. Hunters say other bird populations are also declining rapidly, raising fears among environmentalists.

Noar Agha loads small stones into the leather pouch attached to his homemade sling shot. "This is like a big transit airport for birds," he says, pointing to a lush valley ringed by snowy Hindu Kush peaks in Parwan province, about 160km (100 miles) from Kabul.

Syed Khel district's wheat fields and orchards offer a perfect resting point for migratory birds.

"Thousands of White-naped Cranes, flamingos, ducks, falcons and sparrows migrate from India and Pakistan when summer temperatures begin to rise there. They make a stopover here before taking off for Russia. That's when we make a move," Mr Agha says.

About a dozen of his grandchildren nod in appreciation. Then a boy perched on a tree top waves a piece of cloth and Mr Agha orders everyone to scatter. Soon a huge flock of sparrows descends on the valley.

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Bets and roars at Afghan bird fight resurgence

KABUL: The sun has barely risen. Already, dozens of Afghan men are swapping fistfuls of bank notes, frantically betting in one of the country’s goriest pastimes: bird fighting.

In a shady patch, under a cluster of trees in a Kabul park, two partridges face off at opposite ends of a small square of dirt. The spectators press closer, roaring the birds on as they clutch their cash.

A man sprinkles water into the air to keep the stifling heat at bay for the birds. “These two birds are very good. The fight could last 10 minutes to two hours,” said Hafizullah, a large man in his 50s, wearing a red and white turban.

Under the 1996-2001 Taliban regime, such a scene would have been unthinkable. The Islamists banned all forms of gambling and animal fighting. But under the Western-backed government of today, fights between anything from quails to bulls have been restored as a violent aspect of daily life in Afghanistan.

In the second round, one partridge grabs the other by the neck before being thrown off. 

As the fight goes on, bets rise. “At the beginning, bets were like $200, but now it’s $800 and it’s going to be higher. This fight will continue until one of them runs away,” says Hafizullah. Gradually the birds become caked in mud, they shed feathers and become more and more aggressive, fired up by the violence and shouts from the crowd.

After more than a hour, one partridge refused to continue, losing the fight and prompting the spectators to overrun the fighting ground as money changes hands.

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No birds of peace, these quail fight for their masters

The birds look so fragile — tiny legs, chubby bodies, easily held in one hand. But in the fighting ring, face to face, and cheered on by gamblers, quail can release a fury of feathers, beaks and claws when two aggressive males are forced to do battle.

Many Pakistanis take part in animal fighting as a form of entertainment — pitting dogs, chickens, bears and even eagles. Among the most popular, at least in the northwestern borderlands, are quail fights.

Keeping quail is a tradition said to be a centuries-old, part of the ethnic Pashtun culture. And it goes back further still: nearly 2,000 years ago, even the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius partook.

Quail fighting was banned in Afghanistan under Taleban rule, but since 2001, the pastime has been revived in Pashtun enclaves such as Kabul and Kandahar.

Across the border in Pakistan, quail fighting is embraced by largely older men who are proud to be part of what they see as a vanishing part of rural life.

“I have been keeping birds since before I had a mustache and beard,” said Dost Mohammad, about 75. The grey-haired, long-bearded farmer balanced a bright red bag on his left hand. In the dark underneath the heavy fabric, he gently cupped his prize quail.

Mohammad, who also owns peacocks and fighting chickens, was among several men who discussed bird fighting — some called it “wrestling” — in a small village near Mardan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. They showed how they handle and feed the birds, defending a practice seen as cruel by outsiders and animal rights activists. 

It is legal to hunt and keep quails in Pakistan, although those who do so are required to get a license from wildlife officials. But gambling on the bouts is illegal, and raids by police are routine. Last month police busted nine gamblers and confiscated $ 80,000 in cash, a newspaper reported. 

Continued: http://www.arabnews.com/news/449657

Afghans Hail Effort To Protect Rare Raptors From Smugglers

Afghan authorities are welcoming a foreign-based NGO's actions to help curb a runaway trade in smuggled exotic birds from Afghanistan. 

An Afghan man with a falcon at a 

refugee camp near Radja Bahoudine.

The group, Nada Al-Sheba Lel-Hayat Al-Bariya from United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.), invited journalists to an event to mark the freeing on March 17 of 30 such birds near the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif.

The animals had been seized from smugglers in the Middle East, where reports on such trafficking from South Asia suggest there is high demand for birds of prey and other exotic animals among the very wealthy.

Last year alone, some 5,000 wild birds were smuggled out of Afghanistan, according to the head of the country's Environmental Protection Agency, Mustafa Zahir. Falcons, hawks, and geese are said to be among the smugglers' favorites.

The most highly prized falcons can reportedly sell for as much as $100,000.

Afghan authorities are constrained by budget limitations and other obstacles to enforcement after decades of war and hardship, with infrastructure, security, and rebuilding projects generally regarded as more urgent priorities.

So Zahir was in Mazar-e Sharif on March 17 to lend government support to a newly launched wildlife protection center.

"Unfortunately, the smuggling of birds that is continuing from Afghanistan must stop," Zahir says. "In Mazar-e Sharif, in Herat, and Bamian the hunters are hunting the falcons and hawks. Most of these birds are smuggled to Gulf nations."

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Rare bird normally found in Afghanistan and Sri Lanka photographed in Britain

Birdwatchers were on ”mega alert” today after a rare creature was spotted on a British island.

More than 500 twitchers have flocked to the Isles of Scilly hoping to catch a glimpse of the Sykes’ Warbler.

The small bird is thousands of miles off course and is usually only found in Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.
But on Friday one was spotted in the tiny village of Old Grimsby on Tresco, one of the Scilly Isles.

Experts believe the feather-brained creature has become lost on its way to Asia.

The pale brown bird was first spotted by twitcher Dick Filby, 54, of Norwich, a regular visitor to the islands.

He said: “It was the first time I had ever seen one. I have been coming to the Isles of Scilly now for the past 38 consecutive autumns looking for migration.

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